Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-28
THE MYSTERIOUS NAME.
Only the High Priest Could Speak
From the Home Journal.

obiy the ulRn PRIEST Sou1u SPEAK
1t.
From the Home Journal.
Once each year, on the Day OF Atone
ment, while the Jewish Temple at Jeru-
salem remained, the high priest was ac-
customed TO pronounce upon the bowed
and awe-sticken multitude OF whOrshIp-
ers the blessing which contained the
mysterious name of God. On no other
occasion, and from the lips of no other
person, could this name be spoken, and
when the sacred city fell before the
Roman armies. and the Temple itself was
RACED to the ground the cermony likewise
persisted and the name was lost.
A peculiar interest IN this extraordi-
t airy name has always been evinced by
scholars and antiquarians. There is
something in mystery that surrounds it,
| that appeals alike to the strict religionist
and to the investigator whose only motive
! Is the desire TO explore the region of the
obscure. w nat was tEis name that could
not even he pronounced without bias
| phemy, aud y hich has in consequence
| passed away from the knowledge OF man.
| kind -r.sapp
AS is waik known. the consonants of the
name are JHV II or IHVH; and since
the ttlieiei the Hebraist Galatinus the
popular usage has been to pronounce 1t
JehQy&h, following the example of hat
scholar. Yet no one believes this to be IN
any way correct, and the ingenuity OF
hundreds Of commentators has been taxed
to restore the original vOwes. The name
Itself, however it was primarily pro-
| bounced, is one of marvellous antiquity
| 1t is derived from verb, but was almost
| forgotten in the time OF Moses, and It's
Origin is absolutely lost In the mists Of an
antiquity that makes the pyramids seem
| inGunerahly modern. 1t was the essen
TALLY national name given to the Creator
by the jeWs-the name by which they
thought Of HIM in the privacy OF their
own home s. in the presence of their own
altars--s4o0 sacred to be spoken. save once
each year(tsod by the lips of the conse-
Grated priest or the Most High. so hedged
about was it with reverence that the Rab.
bins do not even dare to write about it,
| but allude TO it mysteriously as The
| Name,'' or ''Tbe Name of Four Letters"
in which the Samaritans likewise follow
them. Yet, although it seems so wholly
! Jewish, some Of the most singular
condolences are to be found in the usage
of other ancient languages. In the Chi.
nese some Thousand years before Christ,
| there are illusions to a "name OF three
mystical letters, INV" denoting that
which none can comprehend. Among
| the Pbenleians the name had equal re-
| vcrehce; the Greek writers speak OF the
.'great name'' which they impertectly
| give as IEUO or lao; and an inscription
in the adytum by the temple OF Isis at the
! Egyptian sails recalls the same dread
tetragra animation. 1t would seem almost
as though this were the title by which
| primeval man was dIyIneIy taught to
worship his creator.
AS has been said, the name, so tar az
can be learned, has never been pro-
nounced since Titus destroyed the Temple
at Jerusalem in A. d. 20. Whether
before that time 1t was ever in any WAY
fully committed to writing is quite
unknown. Some of the Rabbius who are
unable to DENY that the recorded miracles
of Christ were actually wrought, declare
that he accomplished them by accident
ally gaining possession Of parchment in
which "Hhe Name" was fully written,
and which thus conferred upOn its owner
extraordinary and supernatural powers
! Whether previously written or not. il
must have been 50 recorded after Jerusa-
lem fell, for we learn of individuals who
preserved the true pronunciation for
many centuries. Josepnus in his an
tiQuitles," sbeaks OF TIE name, but SAYS
that II would be unlawful tor him to eX-
plain IT. The Jewish shna speaks OF a
jew named kamZar who was aware OF the
sound Of the letters. In fact, as late az he
wear 1860 the Orientaiist Leusden me-
| A jew mt Amsterdam VINO professed 10 be
| able to utter them correctly. His family,
! ne SAID, rad preserved the traditional
pronunciation by means OF writing.
| Leusden offered the man a large sum If
| money if he would utter the word lust
| once, and his offer was accepted: but
| shortly after, and before the payment had
! been made, so great a terror seized upon
| him as 10 seal his lips, nor could be be per-
suaded either by brides or entreaties to
! perform his promise.
The secret therefore must be regarded
as wholly lost; nor perhaps, would a spirit
| of reverence desire il to be discovered,
though even the most orthodox Christians
regard the Jewish feeling about the name
as nothing better than a superstition.
Whatever one may think, the mystery
! that surrounds The whole subject appeals
| very strongly to the Imagination, as il
seen in the melancholy end OF a we'll
| known American scholar who devO ed
! his whole lite to an investigation of the
! name, and upon whose mind the question
wrought SO strongly as to produce in
sanity.
II may be Of interest to give the various
! pronuuciations that different scholars
| have considered the mos probable. Cap
pei would have it ahyoh: Furst. Yehe-
web Mercer, Yehveh, and Wright, va
haven: but perhaps the majority II
! OrIentalIsts incline to Iabveh In read
ing the Hebrew Scriptures the Jews them
selves never pronounce the word at all,
| but substitute the ordinary Adonai or
Lord